Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Despite decades of research, no one knows how birds navigate to destinations hundreds of miles away. Rupert suggests that there is a field-mediated sense of direction through which they are attracted towards their goals.
Rupert’s official 8-part course on morphic resonance is now available online for £49, including a live Q&A session. Details here sheldrake.org/online-courses/morphic-resonance-course
"I've been interested in how pigeons home and how birds navigate from the earliest age. In fact, I think it was probably this problem that got me interested in science in the first place. When I was working in biological research as a fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, I started asking professors of zoology at Cambridge University how birds navigation, how pigeons home. No one really knew, and it's still probably the most obvious unsolved problem in animal biology."
Dr Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, is a biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University he worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College. He was Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and From 2005 to 2010 was Director of the Perrott-Warrick project, Cambridge.
This is one of six talks on potential breakthroughs in the sciences. The full series, together with course materials, including relevant chapters from Rupert’s books and scientific papers, are available for a reduced price of £35 (as of June 30, 2023).
sheldrake.org/online-courses
Related book:
Seven Experiments That Could Change the World
sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/seven-experiments-that-could-change-the-world
References
____
Satellite Tracking of Wandering Albatrosses
Jouventin,P. and Weimerskirsch, H. 1990. Nature 343, 745-748.
____
Perdeck, Albert C.
Two Types of Orientation in Migrating Starlings, Sturnus yulgaris L., and Chaffinches, Fringilla coelebs L., as Revealed by Displacement Experiments. Ardea, 55(1–2) : 1-2.
____
Netherlands Ornithologists' Union
doi.org/10.5253/arde.v1i2.p1
____
Magnetic Fields 1750-1980
Bloxham, J. and Gubbins, D. 1985. The secular variation of tye earth’s magnetic field. Nature 317, 778-781.
____
World War 1 Pigeon Loft Photos
public domain
____
Mobile Loft Experiment at Coldham hall, Suffolk, 1989
With Robbie Robson of Bury St. Edmunds Racing Pigeon Club
Photo by: Jill Purce
____
Dutch Navel Pigeon Experiment
HNLMS Tydeman
June, 1995
Filmed by: Louis van Gasteren, Gregor Meerman and Jacqueline van Vugt
Despite decades of research, no one knows how birds navigate to destinations hundreds of miles away. Rupert suggests that there is a field-mediated sense of direction through which they are attracted towards their goals.
Rupert’s official 8-part course on morphic resonance is now available online for £49, including a live Q&A session. Details here sheldrake.org/online-courses/morphic-resonance-course
"I've been interested in how pigeons home and how birds navigate from the earliest age. In fact, I think it was probably this problem that got me interested in science in the first place. When I was working in biological research as a fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, I started asking professors of zoology at Cambridge University how birds navigation, how pigeons home. No one really knew, and it's still probably the most obvious unsolved problem in animal biology."
Dr Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, is a biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University he worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College. He was Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and From 2005 to 2010 was Director of the Perrott-Warrick project, Cambridge.
This is one of six talks on potential breakthroughs in the sciences. The full series, together with course materials, including relevant chapters from Rupert’s books and scientific papers, are available for a reduced price of £35 (as of June 30, 2023).
sheldrake.org/online-courses
Related book:
Seven Experiments That Could Change the World
sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/seven-experiments-that-could-change-the-world
References
____
Satellite Tracking of Wandering Albatrosses
Jouventin,P. and Weimerskirsch, H. 1990. Nature 343, 745-748.
____
Perdeck, Albert C.
Two Types of Orientation in Migrating Starlings, Sturnus yulgaris L., and Chaffinches, Fringilla coelebs L., as Revealed by Displacement Experiments. Ardea, 55(1–2) : 1-2.
____
Netherlands Ornithologists' Union
doi.org/10.5253/arde.v1i2.p1
____
Magnetic Fields 1750-1980
Bloxham, J. and Gubbins, D. 1985. The secular variation of tye earth’s magnetic field. Nature 317, 778-781.
____
World War 1 Pigeon Loft Photos
public domain
____
Mobile Loft Experiment at Coldham hall, Suffolk, 1989
With Robbie Robson of Bury St. Edmunds Racing Pigeon Club
Photo by: Jill Purce
____
Dutch Navel Pigeon Experiment
HNLMS Tydeman
June, 1995
Filmed by: Louis van Gasteren, Gregor Meerman and Jacqueline van Vugt
